Remote temperature monitoring of house or room or outside

[webbie]

I have been looking for low cost solutions for remote temp monitoring for our beach cottage - but there are surprisingly few of these on the market.

My first solution, which I may still use, was to install a small web cam - accessible over the internet, and point it to a digital thermometer which had outside and inside sensors. The cost of this setup is approx. $100 if you get a decent deal on a wireless webcam with built in internet server...I used a more expensive model from panasonic which had pan and tilt - so I could "look around" the house, while still seeing the digital display if the camera was panned all the way to one side.

I just found another solution which is quite low cost and works decently.....

This involves a low cost wireless weather station which accepts up to 3 or 4 external sensors - each of these sensors has 2 temp sensors (one in the unit, one on a long wire) and also a humidity gauge. They all set up wirelessly and can be monitored over the internet!

Here are the items:
(broken link removed to http://www.ambientweather.com/latx60uset.html)

A complete setup including shipping to me and two external sensor units was less than $100.
The basic web monitoring is free, although there are upgrades available which cost a small amount per year.

Screens from the monitoring are enclosed.......


All the above just FYI in case anyone is looking for a low cost system for temp measurement.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Thanks for the info Craig and good write up.
I know that this issue has been brought up before on posts here, and seems to be a good solution.
Actually, for some dorks like myself, I would like this just to monitor/track temps at my house even though I don't have as second home.
Question, is the data logging (i.e tracking and recording temps over time) included? and if so, can you set the parameters on when you want the unit to take a reading?
Cool stuff.

Ps. Of course you gave us your email account too......just in case you want to remove from your photo

 

[webbie]

Thanks for the note about email - that is all public info.....

The web site allows you to download a history of measured values - they say it is kept for about 30 days on the server, so you'd have to download it once a month or so.

Yes, you can change the interval of measurement from 2 to 20 minutes.
I think they also do alerts - to your cell phone, etc......so if you are a real dork you can fiddle with all that stuff!

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Thansk Craig...going to put it on my xmas list

 

[semipro]

Interesting, I've been looking for a decent logging weather station. I want to record wind and maybe solar at our house to see if alternative energy sources would payoff.

Like you I wanted to record remote temp and found a different setup. Check out (broken link removed to http://www.iobridge.com/technology/) The actual data logger (bridge) is here: (broken link removed to http://www.iobridge.com/store/)
It costs a little more than what you've spent but may be more flexible.

I purchased what amounts to a small, 4 channel data logging interface that allows you to connect a variety of sensors. I bought it to log the power usage of various devices by installing inductive sensors in my breaker box. So far I've only used it to track inlet and outlet temps on my geothermal system. I was making some modifications and wanted to track the results. The IOBridge unit connects via Ethernet and uploads data to a website where its recorded. They give you a free account for web access and a nice interface for plotting and export. It has really worked well for my purposes.

Since everyone here likes pictures I've included one of the logger and one showing the web interface.

 

[xman23]

Creig, do you need to remotely control the temp and other things at the house? Some years ago I looked at monitoring and controlling the house via a phone line (no Internet at the house), and as you said there were only a few devices out there. I did find a few alarm systems that have options to that would monitor, make calls and allow call in to control outputs . I almost did this before comeing up with something cheaper. My issue was to turn on multiple zones of electric heat prior to us arriving. I ended up using a low voltage programmable 7 day tstat and some relays to turn on the zones.

Tom